You
you
Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
And we'll just go through a couple things real quickly.
And number one, let us start with any salvations to report from this past week.
Did anybody have any salvations that I'm not aware of?
Anybody?
Six? Alright.
Anybody else? Two?
Alright. Anybody? Three?
Anybody else?
Alright. Eleven additional salvations.
And of course we do have soul winning this afternoon.
And a couple other things.
Next week we do have a prayer meeting after soul winning time.
And also as I mentioned during announcements during the first sermon, we are starting a new book next week.
The Song of Solomon. So I'm excited about that.
If you want to get kind of a head start you can read through the Song of Solomon to kind of be aware of that.
And we'll start that next week.
So I believe that's it for announcements.
We'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
I must tell Jesus.
First hands are ready.
Sing.
I must tell Jesus.
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus.
Jesus can't help me.
Jesus the Lord is again.
I must tell Jesus.
The Lord controls.
Jesus, I'm called.
I'm called.
Jesus, I'm called.
I'm called.
I must tell Jesus.
Jesus
Oh
Amen for a scripture reading please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel
Daniel chapter 6 near the end of your Old Testament
Daniel chapter 6
Yeah, the song Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah lamentations as you go Daniel
Daniel chapter 6 and as our custom we will be reading the entire chapter
Daniel chapter 6 please say man if you're there
amen
Daniel chapter 6 verse 1
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princess
Which should be over the whole kingdom and over these presidents over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first
That the princess might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage
And this Daniel was preferred about the president's and princess because an excellent spirit was in him
And the king thought to set him over the whole realm
And the president's and princess sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom
They could find on occasion or fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him
Then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except
We find it against him concerning the law of his God
Then these presidents and princess assembled together to the king and said doesn't to him King Darius live forever
All the presidents of the kingdom the governors and the princess the councilors and the captains have consulted together to establish their royal stature
And to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee
Oh King he shall be cast into the den of lions
Now a king established a decree and signed the writing and they'd be not changed according to the law of the meats and Persians
which alter it not
Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened his chamber toward Jerusalem
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a poor time
And these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God
Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree
Has thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days save of thee
Oh King shall be cast into the den of lions
The king answered and said the thing is true
According to the law of the meats and Persians which out for it not
Then answered they and said before the king that Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah
Regarded not the O King nor the decree that thou is signed, but make it his petition three times a day
And the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself
And the law of the meats and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established it may be changed
And the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him to the den of lions
Now the king spake and said unto Daniel thy God and thou service continually he will deliver thee
And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signets and with a signet
Of his Lords that a purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel
And the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting
Neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him
Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in hasten to the den of lions
And when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel
And the king spake and said to Daniel O Daniel servant of the living God is thy God and thou service continually
Able to deliver thee from the lions
Then said Daniel unto the king O king live forever
My God had sent his angel and had shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me
For as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee O king have I done no hurt
Then was the king exceeding glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den
So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no matter of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God
And the king commanded and they brought those men which are the curse Daniel
And they cast them into the den of lions them their children and their wives and alliance had the mastery of them
And break all their bones in pieces wherever they came at the bottom of the den
Then King Darius wrote unto all people nations and languages to dwell in all the earth
Peace be multiplied into you
I make a decree that in every Dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel
free is the living God and steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even into the
End he deliver the rescue with and he worked at signs and wonders in heaven and in earth
Who had delivered Daniel from the power of the Lions?
So this Daniel prospered at the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian
Bless me of God's word let us pray
Lord God in heaven have you think a little first stage given to us and a privilege would give us good weather
I'm good helpful for his day and for our still winning and fellowship later on
I pray that you would bless the preaching and the preacher door would load stay. We love you. Do you see me pray?
All right, we're here in Daniel chapter 6 and of course we're going verse by verse through the book of Daniel and
Last week I was unable to preach so you kind of missed a sermon in Daniel now
I sent in the group chat the sermon on lessons from chess that kind of correlate with the Bible
What I want to do is give you a couple highlights from Daniel 5 that would have been in last week's sermon
just kind of a few very important things or things that are interesting so before we go to Daniel 6 go back to
Daniel 5 and
We will still have lunch. It's okay. It's only going to be 10 extra minutes. Okay. I think maybe and
Daniel 5 verse 7
the Bible reads the king cried aloud to bring in the
Astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers and the king spake and said the wise men of Babylon
whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof
shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and notice this and
Shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Now. It says shall be the third ruler. That's what's being offered
So the question that's going to pop into your mind is who is the second ruler?
Right because you've got the king saying you can be the third ruler
So, of course you got to wonder who's the second ruler now the Bible does not directly tell us
So there are a few possibilities
The first obvious one you would think of is maybe the queen is number two, right? King is number one
Queen is number two
I don't personally believe that though because when you read the chapter doesn't really seem like the Queen's all that powerful in their culture
Doesn't really seem like she's number two. Maybe she would have been number two by title
So that could be true, but I don't think that's necessarily true though
But that is one possibility
Another possibility is maybe Belshazzar had an heir apparent like a son or a nephew
That was going to become the king and that's number two
The other thing that's a possibility which is what I would lean toward is that there was a dual monarchy
I mean not a dual monarchy, but basically a co-regency
Okay, I want to help describe the difference between a dual monarchy and a co-regency. Okay, and this is a bit complicated
It's not really something we have in our modern day
But a dual monarchy would be like when two kingdoms come together like the Medes and Persians and they're independent
monarchies and they join together
It would be like if China and Russia teamed up to try to take over the world to make a modern-day application
Okay, but they're independent nations
What a co-regency is is when you have one monarch monarchy
But two kings within that kingdom and you would say why would there be two kings in one kingdom?
As I said, this is not something that's very common today because we if you have a president you have a vice president
You don't have two presidents
But in the past, here's the reasons why they might have it
For example one king might go off to battle and he'd leave his home territory
And so you'd appoint somebody as the king while he's gone
And so basically you have two kings within that monarchy
The reason this doesn't happen today is because of Skype and cell phones and modern technology
So basically if the king leaves for five years, he can still Skype in and say hey, I'm still in charge
Okay, but in the past if you left your kingdom to fight a battle then you're gone
And if nobody's appointed as a successor or as a king or has authority then somebody could try to take the throne
So that's one reason why or sometimes a king would be near death. So he'd appoint somebody as the king
Expecting he would die something like that. So those are kind of the possibilities
It could be there's two kings where one's kind of gone off to battle and one's left in charge
Or it could be the Queen's number two or it could be maybe a son or nephew is being appointed as number two
That's one thing I wanted to mention
Another thing in Daniel 5 that I think is important and as I said, I'm not preaching through Daniel because of the prophecy
But because of the political implications and I think it's pretty good timing
Because if you read in Daniel 5 what you notice is Daniel hates Belshazzar
Is that not true?
It's very obvious. What's also obvious is Daniel did not hate Nebuchadnezzar
Right. I mean when you're reading Daniel, for example when there's the prophecy against Nebuchadnezzar
Daniel stays silent for an hour because he does not want to tell Nebuchadnezzar that basically he's being replaced
And here's the thing Nebuchadnezzar was not a believer
But he was also not a reprobate. So Daniel doesn't have a reason to hate him and he actually liked his boss
He tried to be a good employee
Even though you know that him that boss at times did some bad things. It wasn't a reprobate
It's not a reason to hate someone just because they do bad things. You don't always agree with them
Now the reason why Daniel doesn't like Belshazzar is he obviously knows he's a bad person
Okay. Now, of course Belshazzar is the relative of Nebuchadnezzar
And here's the thing just because the the father is a decent guy
Doesn't mean the son is right and the opposite could be true as well
For example when you're reading in the Bible, you'll see like a godly king and then you assume his son's gonna be a godly king
But he's not
You also see the opposite. You'll see like a wicked king and then all of a sudden his son is godly and you're like
How did that happen? Like, you know, it's it doesn't really make sense
But that that takes place in the Bible you can have a godly person then his son is wicked
You can have the opposite as well. Now. There's no reason biblically for us to hate somebody
Unless they were actually a child of the devil that there's real proof that there's a bad person now
Perhaps you know what I'm alluding to here's what I'm saying and I try not to get overly political
There is no reason to hate the new president of this country as far as I'm aware of
There is no proof of him being a wicked evil person now
Here's the thing. Maybe he's not who you wanted to be the ruler if I lived in Daniel's day
I don't think I would have picked Nebuchadnezzar as my first choice
But it's not a reason to hate Nebuchadnezzar though
And here's the thing
Personally, honestly, I have no idea about Ferdinand Marcos. I've watched documentaries. I've read things
Here's the thing most of you in this room
You're getting this information secondhand and you form opinions based on secondhand knowledge. I get it third hand
Okay, I don't know the accuracy of everything I hear how much is true
What's not true, but but here's the thing here. It doesn't really matter what your opinion is of Ferdinand Marcos
Because the son is not put to death for the sins of the father if for example things were true that were said
Everybody gets to live and stand based on their own actions
I mean in this room, there's probably a lot of people in this room your parents aren't saved, but that doesn't affect you. I
Mean, I'm not gonna look down on you because your parents aren't saved
Right. So here's what I'm saying. A new president comes in if you don't have reason to hate him. You shouldn't hate them
You shouldn't say well, you know what God appointed that person as the president
That's the person God chose whether that's the one you wanted or not
And just you know what they live and die by their own actions
Now if the person ends up becoming a wicked person
Then you could have reason to dislike that person and hate that person
But if that doesn't take place, you got to let them stand on their own actions
And look as far as I'm aware, there's no reason to hate our new president now
I'm not saying that he's a fundamental Bible believing Baptist soul winner King James only
That's not what I'm saying
Okay, I'm just saying, you know, honestly biblically
You don't really have a you got to be very careful to hate the authority that there is unless you have a real reason
To hate them. I'll give you an example
Personally, I like the mayor of Pasig
I'm not saying that he's would love our church
He probably wouldn't but I like the mayor of Pasig, you know, honestly over the last couple years
It hasn't really been that bad in Pasig. I thought he's I think he's done a great job
And so here's the thing I'm just saying everybody should live and die based on their own actions
So regardless of what your opinions is of events that were before you were born
It doesn't really matter because a new person
Just because the father might have done certain things doesn't mean the son will and vice versa
And the reason why I know that is because biblically speaking we see those examples all the time
You have an ungodly King and then the Sun rises up and he's a godly King
You also have the opposite
Everybody lives and dies based on their own actions now
I do want to have you understand because I have criticized the US president before that's because there's real evidence. He's a pedophile
That's a little bit different unless I'm unaware of stuff as far as I know
There's no evidence of the new president that he is like a wicked evil reprobate now
I'm not saying that he's who you wanted to win. He wasn't who I would have personally voted for
I was rooting for Manny Pacquiao, right? I think most people are aware that that's who I wanted to win
Personally, but here's the thing
You know what the person God chose is the person God chose and I don't have any reason to think that
He's some wicked evil person
So, you know what a new president I'll let him live and die by his own actions
And that's actually one thing I appreciate about the new president. That's what he said
He's like don't judge me based on things in the past. I'm gonna basically make my own way
I'm not saying that's who you wanted to win or who you're rooting for
I'm just saying biblically speaking
You don't have a reason to hate the new president even if it's not who you're rooting for
Okay, you got to be very careful to hate the authorities that you have in your life unless there's look
I've had bosses that I didn't really like
But it's not like I had a reason to hate them just because they weren't my favorite boss
Same thing with a president. We're not saying the godliest person in the world is going to be the one running the country
I mean, that's probably very unlikely in our modern day in any country
But I mean we we don't have any reason to hate the person who's becoming the president
Okay, and we can see that from Daniel 5 where basically you do see Daniel disliking Belshazzar. He didn't dislike Nebuchadnezzar though
Okay
The other thing to mention is in the last verse of Daniel 5
And I try not to get overly political because it's honestly our number one focus is serving God and
Honestly, you know people can really divide over political stuff
It's really just not something we should spend all of our effort fighting for
Okay, whoever's the president who is whoever the president is? We just keep serving God regardless of what takes place
Daniel 5 verse 32 or verse 31
only 31 verses and
Darius the median took the kingdom being about threescore and two years old now notice in verse 31
It says Darius the median right remember there's the needs in the Persian
So the leader of the Persians is King Cyrus the leader of the means is Darius the median now
What's significant is if you're familiar with famous kings in history, there's a famous king known as Darius the great
He was a Persian king. This is not the same Darius
Okay, that could be a source of getting confused in Bible contradictions because here's the thing in the book of Ezra
It will mention someone named Darius. You might just assume it's the same Darius
It's not because the Darius and Ezra for is Darius the Persian that's Darius the great the famous person known in history
One of the most famous kings ever that came after
Cyrus so the Darius and Daniel 5 that is not Darius the Persian is Darius the median different person
Okay. So anyways, let's go on to Daniel chapter 6 and the name of the sermon is
How to respond when serving God is illegal how to respond when serving God is illegal now
I'm not preaching the sermon because I think it's completely applicable now, but we're just going verse by verse
This is what the topic is in Daniel 6 verse number 1
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom in 120 princes
which should be over the whole kingdom and
Over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage
So a couple things to notice it mentions presidents and princes and what you're seeing is those terms presidents and princes are
Basically political authorities, but they're not exactly how we would use them today
today if you call somebody a prince you're saying the son of the king right a
President in many countries is the leader or ruler of that country. That's not the way they're being used though here
They are positions of political authority, but not the exact same thing
You have three presidents and it says of whom Daniel was first
What that means is Daniel is one of the three presidents
But he is above the other two
He is one of the three presidents of whom Daniel was first. He's the first of those three presidents
Then you have 120 princes
So basically the 120 princes they basically report to the three presidents who are going to report to the king
But you have Daniel who's basically
above the other two
presidents, okay verse 3
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes now that does not mean that he's not one of the presidents
It's Jane saying he's above the rest of the presidents and above the princes
Because an excellent spirit was in him and the king king thought to set him over the whole realm
So you'll notice that Darius likes Daniel just like Nebuchadnezzar like Daniel verse 4
Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom
But they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him
So basically they want to get Daniel in trouble and they're trying to find some method
Does he show up late for work? No
Does he take breaks during the day? No
Does he gossip about the boss or other employees? No, they're trying to find something
Right. Does he steal from the company? Does he do anything dishonest? No
And look that ought to be our testimony that we have at our jobs and the people that we are around
Most of us with most of your employees, they're probably not saved
Most of your co-workers are probably Catholic. Most of your co-workers are part of other religions
Okay, but here's the thing. You ought to have a good testimony in front of those people
I mean if your co-worker says well so-and-so, you know, he's always gossiping about the boss
Here's the thing just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean that you should do it
Just because other people are taking a lot of breaks during the day doesn't mean that you should do it
Just because other people show up five minutes late doesn't mean that you should do it or clock out five minutes early
You should be above the other people
you should be a peculiar person as the Bible says live and realize that God is your ultimate boss and
That is the life Daniel lived because they could find nothing against him
Verse number five then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel
Except we find it against them concerning the law of his God now
Remember, there's three presidents and there's 120 princes
Daniel is one of those three presidents
Now in verse five it said then said these men now
You might think if you quickly read over that we're talking about all of the presidents and princes. I don't believe that
Okay
Now when it said in verse four
Then the presidents and princes we know that the other two presidents are speaking against Daniel because it's plural
There's only two of them. So it's both of them
But the Prince is being plural does not mean all
120 of them because basically you're having all these these people that are going to speak against them are trying to get Daniel to put
To death look not every coworker was trying to get Daniel to put to death
And we can kind of see that in verse five because then said these men is being specific with these men and out of the mouth
Of themselves you're gonna see them lie in the next verse. Okay, notice what it says in verse six
Then these presidents and princes assemble together the king and said thus unto him King Darius live forever all the presidents of the kingdom
The governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted together. Is that statement true?
No, it's not say how do you know that because Daniel is one of the presidents
They say all the presidents have consulted together. That's not true. Now. Here's the thing. There's three presidents
120 princes that are basically reporting to the president. Well
Logistically, there's probably more than 120 captains and more than 120 governors and more
So look we're talking about a lot of people
Do you really believe that thousands of people met together and had a meeting we are going to make this agreements
Well, no, they're lying about that
There were certain of them that wanted to get Daniel put to death and what they're claiming is that we all met together now
They're very kind of slick with their words because they don't really say all the governors. They don't say all the princes
They don't say all the counselors
They don't say all the captains, but if somebody read that to you, you would assume that's what they mean
And that's what they want
Darius to think
But it's not actually true, right?
They don't say all the governors just kind of implied if you say all the presidents you would assume
It's all the governor's and that's not what they're really saying. There probably are some governors probably are some captains
They're probably giving a half-truth half-lie and making it seem like one thing when in reality
This is what is actually the truth. Okay, but they're lying because of the fact that Daniel is
Not there. Okay. He did not consult together that they're gonna be no prayer for 30 days
So they're lying. So I don't believe this is all of them and look you could have a different opinion. That's fine
I don't think logistically it makes a lot of sense that they got thousands of people to meet together
To agree to this one thing no prayer because look even in the unsaved world a lot of unsaved people pray every day
Right. Is that not true?
I mean, do you really think that you could just get together every single year?
Look, if you look at the leaders of this country, look most of them pray every single day
You're not gonna get every single ruler to agree
Let's just not pray to God for 30 days
Even if they're not saved most of them still pray
Right. So look, I don't believe that during this time period every single person in that kingdom
Agreed not to pray to God. I don't agree. I don't believe that. Okay, but it says all the presence of the kingdom
This is what they say the governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted together
To establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree
That whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for 30 days save of thee
King he shall be cast in the den of lions
So they say well all of us met together and if anybody prays to God
Or asks a petition of anybody for 30 days they get put to death
Verse 8 now a king establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and
Persians which alter ith not now once again in their law
If you write something in you cannot nullify it afterwards once it's written into law
You cannot take away from it. That's just what the law is
Even the king did not have the authority to basically overhaul that anyway
It kind of makes sense because depending on what country you live in the leader has a certain amount of power
They might have absolute power to get rid of any law and change it just on the spot
That's not really the way it works in a lot of countries though
I don't know the exact rules here in the Philippines
But in the US the president couldn't just make a law and just force everybody to do it
There's steps that they have to actually go through and in their culture once the law is written. It cannot be changed
Here's the thing if you are signing something signing a contract
That cannot be changed. You've got to be very careful with what you're signing and agreeing to
It'd be like for example, if you buy a house and you've got a binding contract you better make sure
That you visited the house
You better make sure that you're making the right decision because it's not something where you can say
Oh, well, I lost 20 pesos. No, it's a big decision
Same thing here. The king though is kind of foolish in this story
Verse 9 wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree so he signs it
Didn't stop to think about it
What he should have done is stopped to double-check that every single ruler was consulted together and he would have found out
I mean, he should have asked Daniel which is his favorite right Daniel. Were you part of this?
Now he should have known that Daniel wouldn't be a part of it because Daniel was a very religious guy
But he should have stopped to ask Daniel and then he would have realized it was all just a lie
Okay, but he doesn't do that
So basically the king has made a decree that is basically illegal to serve God for 30 days
Right now it specifically says asking a petition and you think of prayer
But I'm sure that if you had like a church service back then that would have been like against the law too during that
30 days they'd get you in trouble because you're talking about God
You know, you're preaching about God and saying things. I'm sure all of it would have been illegal
Okay, so the question is well, what do you do if it's illegal to serve God?
Point number one you persist in serving God
If it becomes illegal to serve God in this country, you keep serving God you persist in serving God
You don't stop serving God
Verse number 10 now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed
He went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four-time
Daniel finds out the writing is signed and
He just persists in serving God. He doesn't stop and say, okay, I'm gonna take a 30-day break
He says I'm gonna keep serving God regardless of what the law is. Okay, go to Romans 13 Romans 13
Romans 13
Now when you preach a sermon like this, it's sort of hard for us to fully picture because it's not like we live in a Muslim
country
We don't live in North Korea
We don't live during the Dark Ages where if you spoke against the Catholic Church, you know, you could be put to death
We don't live during that time period in 2022 in the Philippines, right?
We have great freedom in this country to serve God
But this is a reality in many parts of the world. I
Mean, I'm sure if you go to the average country that is predominantly Muslim
You do not have complete freedom to worship God and go soul winning and serve God, right?
This is a reality for many people that are in this world. So the question is well, what should they do if they're in that situation?
Well, I want to talk a little bit about this with government. Look at what it says in Romans 13 verse 1
Let every soul be subject on in the higher powers for there's no power
But of God the powers that be are ordained of God
Whosoever therefore resist the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that serve they that resist shall receive to themselves
Damnation and see the Bible says that we are subject on to the higher powers. Okay?
subject think of a
Submarine, okay, we're basically you go under the water
So being subject means you're underneath the higher powers
basically the lower powers being subject on to the higher powers and here's the thing all of us in our lives have various
Situations where we have authority above us
None of us is the leader of this country
Politically speaking we are underneath the powers of this country the people that make the rules and make the laws
We are subject on to their rules. Okay, first number three
For rulers are not a terror to good works
But to the evil wilt thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and thou shalt have praised it
The same for he is the minister of God to thee for good
But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain
For he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil
Wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath
But also for conscious sake and what the Bible teaches is that it's the government's job to basically
Make the laws and enforce the laws. We don't make the laws
We don't enforce the laws right when when Jesus was here
He wasn't making the laws to fit what the Bible says either. He was put himself subject on to the laws of the country
Okay, we don't make those laws
Now I wish that we could just follow the rules 100% based on what the Bible says
But it's never gonna be like that in any country even in ancient Israel
It's not like they were fully fully following the rules that God gave
It's never gonna be like that in 2022 where the laws are 100% perfect and we understand that
Okay
now what some people do is they look at laws and they say well since since this government is not fully following what the
Bible says that means we don't have to follow anything
Doesn't work that way
Just because some of the laws are not exactly like the Bible says doesn't mean you can just overhaul every single law
That a country and government makes and see what the Bible is teaching here
Is that laws are put in general to actually help the people and in reality?
That's mostly true with the laws of our country. Most laws are actually not harmful. I'll give you an example
Before I moved here the biggest thing that people warned me about or tried to persuade me not to move here as they said
It's really dangerous
It's what I heard many times and they said it's dangerous because of President Duterte
They said, you know, there's all these drug dealers. He's putting to death. I'm not planning to be a drug dealer
In the Philippines, I've never done drugs before
Right, so I don't really see how that's going to affect me. I'm not out at 3 in the morning at clubs
You know where I can get into trouble, so I don't really see how that's going to affect me
Now here's the thing. Am I against laws against drug dealers? No, I'm not
Because it actually protects us as people
Now I'm not saying that the laws are 100% exactly like the Bible says I would say that
There are some drugs that I believe would be considered mind-altering drugs, right? That's what you call them
There's some that are mind-altering some that are not mind-altering drugs. Let me give you another word for that sorcery
It's sorcery. Guess what the Bible puts for sorcery? The death penalty. So am I against that? No, no
I'm not now. I'm not trying to get into conspiracy theories or talk about every situation
I'm just saying the general thing. It doesn't really affect me because I'm not planning to be a criminal
It's like man, they're really tough on criminals in the Philippines. You better watch out brother Stuckey
It's like I'm not planning to be a criminal. I've never been to prison before. I mean, I think I'm gonna be okay
Right now look there are some countries I would be afraid to move to right that I believe
North Korea is the one that's easy to talk about and stuff, but other countries like Muslim countries
Well, yeah, you know what it could be very dangerous, but for religious reasons more so but here's the thing
Laws that are in our country, even if you don't think they're 100% perfect or even if they're not 100% perfect in general
They actually do protect us
Laws against drunken driving. You know what? I'm not against that
You say why because I don't want my family's life to be at risk by some idiot who's on the road
who's drunk and driving and
If laws against drunken driving basically make people afraid to drive drunk
great
Because it protects me I mean I've driven before where there's people that are drunk on the road
It is a very scary thing because sometimes you are not able to pull over to the side of the road
Sometimes you're stuck and you're just praying that basically that car doesn't just crash into you
I mean, I remember one time specifically for about 10 minutes
I was on the interstate and it was pretty packed in Sacramento and I was driving and there was this car
That was just clearly drunk
Speeding up going 90 then going 30 then going 90 and swerving
It's like I hope he doesn't crash into me. I hope he doesn't crash into somebody else
Because if he crashes into somebody else then there could be a bunch of cars that wreck and I honestly was I was thinking can
I pull over to the side of the road, but it was very busy traffic
It was and it was dark outside. So you got to be more careful
I was like I got to just stick this out and pray unto God and just hope nothing happens eventually
He you know went off on an exit and I was okay
but here's the thing if there's laws that make somebody like that afraid to drive drunk and
Just go to sleep outside for the night until they wake up sober then great
Because it protects me
I'm not saying every single law is exactly like the Bible says or I would make the exact same law myself
Here's what I'm saying though what the Bible teaches with authority is that when authority makes rules
You must obey that authority
Unless they're asking you to do wrong
That is the one exception now go to Ephesians 5
I'll show this to you because this works with all authority, okay
Now there are going to be some gray area situations where you might have to consider it
Would this be classified as doing wrong or sinning?
But I'm giving you the general rule that if that if authority tells you something you're supposed to obey that
Authority unless they're asking you to do wrong now in Ephesians 5 we see three examples of this
In Ephesians 5 and 6 verse 21 submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God now
Ephesians 5 21 is very misunderstood verse
Because people associated with wives and husbands, but verse 21 is not about wives and husbands
Wives and husbands is one example of verse 21
But there's three examples given and the way you understand this passage is you realize that at the end of chapter 5 the context is
not over
Chapter 6 stays with this context of verse 21
Okay now in general. I mean I believe the chapters and verses are very helpful
But in I personally would have started the chapter of verse 21 probably and it would be a little bit simpler
I understand what I'm saying
But sometimes when you're reading the Bible when you get to the end of the chapter
The next word of the first chapter might be therefore
That means the context is not over that means you're tying together. What was said with the next chapter
Okay, so verse 21 submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God
Verse 22 wives submit yourselves on your own husbands is on to the Lord
So it's not saying hey husbands and wives submit yourselves to each other and then verse 22 and wives submit yourselves to the husbands
That would contradict
Okay, verse 22 is one example of submission and one example of submitting yourselves one to another is wives
to husbands what the Bible is stating in verse 21 is that if you are in a position of an
authority above you whether that's
Wife to husband or child to parent as we see in chapter 6 or servant to master in chapter 6 or
Person living here to the government you submit to that authority
Okay, one example is in verse 22 wives submit yourselves on to your own husbands as unto the Lord now
It does say on to your own husbands. It does not say women submit to men
It says wives to their own husbands meaning that in a marriage
The husband is the head of that home and the wife is to submit to the husband. Okay chapter 6 chapter 6
Now the first example gave it starts with a person who is
Submitting wives as the first word and then it says immediately wives submit chapter 6 verse 1
Children obey. Do you see how it's the exact same thing as Ephesians 5 verse 22 doesn't say submit but it says obey
It's the same thing right wives submit children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right go to verse 5 verse 5
servants the person underneath the authority
Be obedient. So it's the same thing right wives submit children obey servants be obedient
So you're seeing the same thing. So all three of those are an example of what's being mentioned in verse 21
What is saying in verse 21 of chapter 5 is that basically if you are in a position where you have an authority?
You submit to that authority
Now they give three examples, but these are not the only three examples that you could think of that are in this world
it just gives you three basic examples we can relate to because
You know people get married people have kids, you know, obviously if you're an adult you were a kid at one time, right?
People have bosses at work
It's not exactly servants masters is more like selling yourself self into servanthood
But you could apply it to basically a boss at work and an employee and so those are three examples
So here's the thing if your boss says hey, I want you to do this Excel spreadsheet
You might not agree with what he's saying
But if he's not asking you to do wrong, you got to do it. I
Mean I would say that anybody who works at a company has been asked to do things they don't agree with
That they just don't think are the right way to do it
But here's the thing if they're not asking you to sin
Then you're supposed to do it. Of course, there could be some gray area situations. We understand that
I'm not getting into every single gray area situation
But here's the thing, you know an example of something that would be wrong is if your boss says well
Here's this Excel spreadsheets and I want you to change the numbers and percentages
Because we don't want to give them the true results
We want to tell them it's 10 million instead of 20 million or whatever and this happens all the time in the financial world
Trust me because my old company, you know, I I've read a line before about the big lawsuit
They were in a couple years after I left because there are times you get the Excel spreadsheet
It's like how do they get this number and then you look and it's just basically like times by 87 percent and add
300,000 it's like just changing the numbers to fit what they wanted to this happens all the time. Well, it's dishonesty
I mean if you're telling a company hey, it's 10 million and it's 20 million
You're lying to them and so you could be in situations at work where you have to do something dishonest and you know
It can be a difficult situation, right?
But otherwise if you get assignments from your boss you just do it unless you're being asked to sin
Okay. Well the other examples are children with parents
Here's the thing my kids I expect to obey what I say
Do they always agree with what I say? No, when I tell them no ice cream for breakfast. They don't agree with that. I
Tell them no chips until you eat real food first. They don't agree with that
But here's the thing they still have to obey me whether they understand why it's a rule or not
Oftentimes the authority is right
You just don't necessarily understand because you don't understand all the things that the authority understands
It's certainly like that with children parents same way with wives and husbands
But here's the thing. It's the same way with government and the people underneath that government
Unless the government asks us to do wrong or not be able to do right then we're supposed to obey what they say
Wives are supposed to submit to husbands, but if your husband says I want you to help me sell drugs well
Disobey why because they're asking you to sin. Okay. There are a lot of laws in this country
I'm not necessarily going to agree with but are they asking me to sin?
Are they asking me to do wrong? If they're not asking me to do wrong, then I should obey in
Daniel we see an example where the government is basically preventing people from serving God
Then you ought to obey God rather than men one example we saw was with pray they say it's illegal to pray
Well, then you should pray keep praying go to Acts chapter 5 Acts 5
Acts 5
Daniel keeps praying and here's the thing. I don't think Daniel was trying to show off
Okay, I think Daniel was just living his life like he normally did and I don't know if he realized he probably didn't realize
That they were gonna spy on him
Basically, they spy on him and they catch him. I don't think he was openly trying to get caught
Here's the thing if it became illegal in our country to pray
Number one make sure that you're at least praying in your head silently because they can't tell whether or not you're praying or not. I
Would still personally pray at home, but I wouldn't I wouldn't try to make it a point
I was praying either I wouldn't be like hey, I just want to let everybody know I'm praying
I don't care what the government says post it on Facebook. Well, that would just be foolish. You're gonna get yourself arrested
Okay, so you should still keep on praying, but I think you should be wise about it
You know because the Bible says being wise as serpents and harmless as doves when it comes to government
That's trying to prevent you from serving him. You do have to use some wisdom
We don't really have to worry about it in our country right now at least praying, you know, it's not a restriction
But for example people that live in some of these countries
I'm not saying that they go down kamikaze style and try to get their head chopped off in a day
That's not what I'm saying. You got to use some wisdom if you live in those countries and you know what?
It's it would be a tough decision in many situations
How do you handle this if we were if it became illegal to pray in this country and I went out to eat at
A restaurant what I would do is I would pray silently now some people might think that's watered down and that's fine
But I'm just being realistic. I would choose not to get arrested
I wouldn't feel like I was not serving God because I was praying silently
Okay, so I do think that you should use wisdom if it's illegal to serve God. I'm not saying try to get killed
It's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying just try to do everything you can to make it obvious what you're doing
I think you should use some wisdom, but you should make sure you're still persisting in serving God
Another example is with soul winning acts 5 verse 27
acts 5 verse 27 and
When they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did not we straightly command you that he
Should not teach in his this name and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men
So basically they're told you're not allowed to go soul winning and they do not listen to this
Okay. Now when you're reading this it's basically illegal for them to go soul winning anywhere
They cannot do anything about it if we had a situation where is illegal to go soul winning in certain areas
You know, we would have to use wisdom and look at our specific situation if it became illegal to go soul winning in Metro Manila
Here's what we would do as a church. We would go soul winning in Rizal
And not go so winning in Metro Manila
Because it's very close
Now here's the thing if it was illegal throughout all the Philippines
I'm honestly not sure what we would do or how we would handle that because we would have to use some wisdom
You know, I'm not saying I have every answer because we're not in this situation
It's really hard to see and it's just like if you're in situations like that. You got to use some wisdom
How are you gonna handle it? You know, your goal should not be to try to get arrested
But you're also not wanting to be watered down, but there's a balance between
Being you know wise versus being watered down and some people try to go some people try to go like all extremes
It's not necessarily the right choice to do though. Sometimes being overly zealous can be a bad thing
They say we ought to obey God rather than men and that's what I would say
If it was illegal to go soul winning we would make sure we're still going so winning
I'm not quite sure how that would look or how we would do that. It would depend on the exact situation
Go to Daniel chapter 6 Daniel 6
Daniel 6 I
Mean there are certain areas where we can't really go soul winning because it's restricted where they don't let you in the gate or whatever
And one thing we did in Pampanga a couple months ago was there was you know an entrance to this little community
Nobody was at the entrance. So we just walked in started knocking the doors and then basically, you know when we were leaving
They're just like hey, you weren't supposed to do that. It's like alright, you know, you know, we apologize
Thank you, because nothing was stopping us from doing and I don't think I think we should be able to go soul winning to
Anybody that's my opinion, but you also have to use wisdom
I mean if there was somebody at the the front that's stopping you
It's not like we're gonna kidnap him and go in and knock the doors
You know, what we would do is just knock other doors, right? That's that's what we would do
I mean there's areas here, you know where there are restrictions with going so winning and we're not really easily able to get in
We've tried to get into some of these areas and then there's restrictions
We had an area that we went before and we had knocked several times just about a 10-minute walk away
No problems whatsoever
And then we had different people that were there and then there's this one police guard who I guess was the head guy at the
Time and I guess he doesn't like Baptists. I don't know what his religion was, but he kicked us out
It's like here's our proof in paper that we're allowed to do this, but he wouldn't let us
So we chose not to get arrested and we knocked other doors. So look obviously there's wisdom that's involved
But we should still persist in serving God if it's illegal
I am personally thankful that we don't really have to worry about it that much
But there are countries around the world where they really do have to use some wisdom
I mean, there are a lot of OFW's in Muslim countries and you know what from my understanding
They're able to get some people saved in those countries, but they preach to Filipinos
That are also OFW's you say why do you do that? Because it's a lot smarter
And there would be a lot more receptive to
But it's just like I would do the same thing
I wouldn't just walk up to anyone and just say I'm just gonna go by faith
Well, the Bible says in the passage on soul winning in Matthew 10 when you your cross reference
I mean
It's it links it toward the end times as well because they're gonna want to deliver you up and kill you
Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. You got to be careful and wise with how you do things
Okay, there is a balance number one you persist in serving God if it's illegal number two you pray
You pray if it's illegal you pray now in verse 10 notice what it says now
This is kind of unique because what is illegal is praying
But whether it was illegal to go soul winning illegal to pray illegal to meet for church illegal to do whatever your your prayer
Is going to be part of that? Okay verse 10 notice what it says
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house now the way I read this is
That
Right when Daniel finds out it's illegal he prays now
He prayed three times a day and he probably had set times. He normally prayed
I think he got started a little bit early on his prayer because when he knew the writing was signed
He prayed it seems like it's simultaneous to me
I don't know if I'm reading too much into that but that's that's how it reads to me that when it's illegal
He prays now it's not because he's trying to get arrested
It's illegal to pray and it's like all right in the middle of the street like a Muslim
All right, and I'm praying right? That's not what's taking place
He goes to his house
And I personally believe that he does not realize he's gonna be spied on I think he's just praying
Silently and they spy on him and they catch him, but here's the thing if something becomes illegal
Preventing us from serving God the first thing we should do is pray to God about it
We should persist in serving God, but the first thing we should do is
Pray about it and ask God for help ask God for guidance ask God for wisdom
And I think Daniel specifically why he starts the prayer early is because since it's illegal
he prays to God to get help in the situation and
When he knew the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward, Jerusalem
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four-time
Look, I'm not really sure because we can't see this house
I don't know, but I'm not sure I'm not you know confident that he got caught from the outside
I think they might have been spying. I don't really know how the house was designed or whatever
I don't think he expected by opening the windows that he would get caught and
So you know he opens the windows as he normally does in praise
I don't think he's doing that to make it seem. I'm disobeying the government, okay
I don't think that's the application the Bible is trying to make he's just praying how he normally does and you know what they're
spying on him they catch him which is exactly what they wanted to do and
then it says
Prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a four times, so this was his pattern
He prayed and he kept his pattern going he persisted in serving God
Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God
So he's praying unto God about the situation now go to first Timothy chapter 2 first Timothy 2
first Timothy chapter 2
1
Timothy chapter 2
And here's another section on prayer and it links it with those that are in authority and notice what it says in 1st Timothy 2 verse
1 I
Exhort therefore that first of all supplication prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men
For kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty the Bible
Does teach that we should pray for those that are in authority and it links it to the fact that we can lead a quiet
And peaceable life in all godliness and honesty you say what does that look like what that looks like a quiet and peaceable life
Is you're able to go to work?
Provide for your family you're able to go to church. You're able to read the Bible freely you're able to go soul-winning
You're not trying to cause any problems
You're not trying to get in trouble with the government
You're just trying to lead a quiet and peaceable life, and that ought to be our goals right we should seek after peace
I want to lead a quiet and peaceable life that I just serve God
You know provide for my family, and I don't have to run into any problems and the Bible says in
this verse
That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty
My goal above all is to be able to live a godly life
But I also would like to be able to do it in honesty. You say what are you talking about brother Stuckey?
Well, here's the thing. I mean if it's illegal to serve God
You ought to persist in serving God, but you might actually have to be dishonest about it to be able to do it
And that could get into very difficult situations
But we want to be living a godly life, and you know what I pray that when governments make decisions
Just help me be able to lead a godly life in all honesty not have to have any problems
I just want to serve God you know and lead a quiet and peaceable life
For example if you lived in a country like North Korea
And the government knocks on your door, and it's like we heard you were reading the Bible today. Is that true I?
Would say no I?
Would lie to them
You say brother Stuckey wouldn't that be a sin well you see Rahab lying when they're trying to catch the spies
I mean it's actually okay in a situation of a life-and-death situation now
That's a rare situation, but you do see that in the Bible James 2 mentions Rahab doing a good thing and she lied
Now she didn't lie because she's covering up a sin of hers right she's lying so they don't get put to death
So for example you know if you're hiding somebody
You know in your house because they got arrested for serving God or baptizing someone or something like that is so-and-so in your house
Or do you know where they are nope I?
Have no idea where they are maybe they went that way
Right that's exactly what Rahab does and so here's the thing if I lived in those countries
And they said do you own a Bible we heard that you smuggled a Bible and you own a Bible
Because in some countries. It's illegal to have a Bible I
Would say no, I don't have a Bible
You say well, what would you do? I mean they're searching your house. Well. Hopefully I hid it in a good place
Where they're not going to find it
Because here's the thing if it became illegal to own a Bible in this country
I would say you need to have a Bible
I'm assuming if it came to that point. They're gonna check technology like this really quickly
so I would say you're gonna have to have a Bible unless you have the whole thing memorized and as far as I know nobody
does and
Hide it in your house somewhere
Now here's the thing I mean, I'm glad we don't have to deal with that
But you know if you read stories about Russia, that's how it was in Russia for a long time right now
It's illegal to go solely in Russia, but it used to be illegal to have Bibles
It used to be a lot worse than communist Russia. Well, here's the thing as a Christian you need a Bible
But here's the thing you literally would live every single day hoping that you didn't get caught
But here's the thing in that country you would be living in godliness, but in dishonesty
Not in sin
But you'd have to be a bit dishonest if the rules are forcing you to not be able to serve God
Here's the thing my prayer for those in authority is I just want to be able to live a godly life in all
Honesty, I don't want to have to be dishonest about what I'm doing because here's the thing
If you have to decide on government or God, will you choose God and it's not a close decision
But ideally you can choose God and do it in honesty because the government is not against you serving God
Okay, hopefully that makes sense now go to Daniel chapter 2 Daniel 2 Daniel 2
Daniel chapter 2
Now that doesn't say that you need to pray for those that are in authority that God will bless them and give them lots of
Money and stuff like that and that you're supposed to revere every politician
You're supposed to respect who the politicians are unless you have reason to dislike them like real reason
But I'm not saying that you're praying that God will bless them
I mean the main thing you pray for those in authority since they make decisions and rules you pray
That they'll make rules that you'll be able to just live your life
They won't make any rules that would just basically make it very hard to serve God and live your life, right?
That's what we should be praying for those in authority
That's what my prayer is for those that are in authority that they'll make laws where we can still serve God
Still go soul winning still pray and in a lot of countries. That's just not the case right now in our country
I think we're pretty much. Okay, it's not really that strict
Daniel 2 verse 13
Daniel 2 verse 13 and
The decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain
Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Ariac the captain the king's guard which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon
He answered and said to Ariac the king's captain
Why is the decree so hasty from the king then Ariac made the thing known to Daniel then Daniel went in and desired of
The king that he would give him time that he would show the king the interpretation
Here's the story from several chapters ago that we that we read before
We're basically all the wise men are being put to death and unfortunately for Daniel and his friends
They're being lumped in with these false prophets because there are these religious leaders, but they're being lumped in with the sorcerers
so they're getting put to death and
Notice what it says in verse 17
Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his companions
That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret. So what are they doing in verse 18?
They're praying on to God
Look whenever you're in any difficult situation, whether it's restricting you from serving God or your life is in jeopardy
What should you do number one pray to God about it, right?
That is the pattern that we have in the Bible now turn in your Bible to Daniel 6 Daniel chapter 6
Point number one if it becomes illegal to serve God, what do we do?
We persist in serving God
We persist in serving God as I said it you might need some wisdom about that you have to be smart about that
But you need to persist in serving God one example
I mentioned a couple years ago at our church, which I don't really think it's an issue now
But I felt like it was an issue at our church back
Then is I was legitimately worried that there would be some young people at our church that would get fired from their jobs
Based on just things that they post online on Facebook and I talked about it in a sermon
I said one day you're gonna show up to a job interview and they're like
Did you say this about Catholics?
I mean, this is reality in 2022
They will pull up what you put on social media and I was like I I and look I appreciate people being zealous
But I was like, I don't want you to destroy your life
Because you're not wise in the way that you're being zealous
My opinion is that if you are the leader of a church you're in that position where you can be attacked
And that's just the way it is
Right and look I preach sermons. I don't hold back
We post the sermons online whatever happens is half happens
That is how it is, but at the same time you as a member you can serve God, but be wise
I'm not asking you to put yourself in a position
Where if I say something and the government's mad at me or whatever, which I hope never happens
But if it does you don't have to intentionally try to get fired from your job to be hardcore
Okay, you can be wise about how you're living your life and what you're doing. Okay, number one
We persist in serving God number two, we we pray to God
Number three we praise God if
It's illegal to serve God in that time. We should praise and thank God
Daniel 6 verse 10
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house in his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem
he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and
Prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did a fourth time
So the pattern Daniel had is he always thanked God he always praised God, you know when he prays
Which is something we should do you say brother Stuckey? Why would you praise God if it's illegal to serve God?
Well, he's not praising God that it's illegal to serve him. It's not you saying praise the Lord
It's illegal to pray this that's not what's taking place
But you can still find things to praise and thank God about in the midst of difficult times
Now an example of this is if you are saved if you believe on Jesus Christ, you know
You're on your way to heaven you are in the minority of this world
If you live the worst possible life on earth, but you died and went to heaven
That's still better than more than 90% of this world
That are gonna die and go to hell
No, I'm not wishing to live a bad life
I want you know to be able to live a life live a long life
Have my health and and not have lots of problems
But here's the thing even if my life is just destroyed and miserable. I'm still going to heaven because I'm saved
And that is something you can always praise God about because when you get saved you have eternal life
You're saved and on your way to heaven. I mean, that's one reason to praise God
You know another reason I would praise God is you know
I'm very thankful to know the things I do about the Bible
I've been able to be a part of good churches and learn from other people and
Be around other people that love God and serve God and you want honestly around the world
There's a lot of people that are saved, but they don't really have that sort of fellowship with other people
There's a lot of people that just don't have that they don't have a church
They can be a part of I mean just imagine how miserable it would be to be a saved person right now in
North Korea because there are saved people in that country
But is that where you want to live right now? Not at all, right? I'm thankful
I'm not in that situation and here's the thing even if it became illegal to serve God now
You could still praise God for all the years you were able to serve God before it became illegal like some other countries
There are always things to praise God about I
Mean if I had a major, you know health crisis in my life
I could still praise God God has blessed me with a wife and three kids and the life I've lived
I mean, there's things to always praise God about
Regardless of whether or not you go through difficult times and see, you know people a lot of times allow difficult
Situations to get them down and depressed that was not Daniel
There are a lot of people over the last two years that have just lived
Depressing two years of misery and complaining. I'll be honest
The last two years of my life have not been that bad. I
Wish things hadn't happened the way they did but I'll be honest. I was still happy the last couple years
My life has not been miserable the last couple years. I
wish things would have gone differently, but it's not like I've been miserable the last couple years and
See a lot of people when they have difficult times. They just get depressed and miserable now
I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying because if you deal with tragedies, of course
There is mourning and we would expect that and you know what, of course you need time to be comforted
You need time of healing. I understand that I'm just saying though that you know what when Daniel deals with the difficult situation
He still has the ability to praise God think of job in the Bible
Job went through terrible things and yet he was still thankful
Blessed be the name of the Lord is what he said right turn your Bible to Acts 5 Acts 5
Acts 5
Acts chapter 5
You know, the other thing is this dealing with difficult times can actually improve you as a person and
I'm sure Daniel didn't want this to take place
But I'm sure this event helped make him more bold in the Lord. It helped build, you know strengthen him
You know, there's a song in the hymnal. It's one of my favorite songs. It's not that common but the song
Thanks to God it says thanks for roses by the wayside. Thanks for thorns their stems contain
What a great line basically saying thank you for the good things
But also thank you for the bad things realize that you know what when there's bad things you can still learn lessons from them
There's still a purpose for them. It's still gonna be okay, right?
Acts 5 verse 40 and
To him they agree. This is the same passage where they said we ought to obey God rather than men
Acts 5 verse 40 and to him they agreed and when they had called the Apostles and beaten them
They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go and they departed from the presence of the
council notice this
Rejoicing that they were worthy were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name and daily in the temple and in every house
They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So what do we see? Well, they persist in serving God
But you know what? They're still praising God. They're still thankful
Even though it's illegal to serve God. It didn't hold them back and look if it became illegal in our country to serve God
We should still be praising and thanking God for the blessings that we do have in our life
Go in your Bible to Daniel 6 we'll close up Daniel 6 Daniel chapter 6
Daniel chapter 6
Daniel 6 verse 11
Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God
So basically they hashed a plan they got they tricked the king they made it illegal to pray and basically they're like
Okay, we bet Daniel's gonna go home to pray like he does
Let's just follow him and assemble how we caught him and we have witnesses right verse 12
Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree
Has thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within 30 days save of thee
O king shall be cast in the den of lions
The king answered and said the thing is true according the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not
Then answer they and said before the king that Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah
Regardeth not thee O king nor the decree that thou has signed but maketh this petition three times a day
They say we caught Daniel praying
Then the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself and yet
Darius makes a stupid stupid law, right? He signs it. He makes a stupid law
You know one thing I like about this is his reaction. He's displeased with
Himself he takes the blame
Himself and see that ought to be the attitude that we have if we mess up and and screw up
You know, even if it's because here's the thing. Is it a hundred percent Darius's fault? Of course not. I
Mean, I would say it's primarily the fault of those presidents and princes and whoever was involved in the battle
You know basically to make it illegal, but Darius can still look at himself and say you know what?
I'm upset with the decision I made I screwed up
I was foolish and what that ought to be the reaction that we have right? He's sore displeased with himself
Then it says this and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the Sun to
Deliver him now you say what does that mean? He's seeking to deliver Daniel. What it means is he's trying to think
You
15 then these men assembled onto the king and said unto the king
No, okay
That the law of the meats and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established it may be changed
And so basically they're saying hey, we just wanted to remind you King. We know you want to change the law
We know you like Daniel, but we got you
You can't do anything about this and you know, they're right
Darius was tricked and there is literally no way around this they had a plan and it work
kind of works
Next week, we'll find out what actually happens to them because obviously God is on the side of Daniel
But you know what we talked about in this sermon is just you know
Basically what to do if it's illegal to serve God, I hope it would not come to that in our country in the future
Obviously this world is not becoming more godly
It's becoming more wicked and look as I've said recently if we want to get God on our side
The key is to serve God and obey God because what we saw in the book of Judges like from the previous
Sermon is when they get in sin
They basically are underneath an authority that can't serve God if we want freedom to serve God
The best way to do that is have God on our side
How do we get God on our side read your Bibles?
pray
Don't sin go soul winning serve God do what's right and look if we're serving God with the freedom we do have
I believe God's gonna keep giving us freedom because we're using it
Once again, if God gives you money and you don't use it for a good thing
Then he's probably not gonna give you more money. Same thing with time. God gives you time to waste
God gives you freedom and you don't use it and then you know, what's funny
Is that in countries where they lose freedom, you know Christians will really complain like it's not fair
It's like you weren't using that freedom when you had it
It's like you want the freedom and then you don't use it when you get it
It's like hey
It's great to have the freedom because we're the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty I believe in freedom
I think it's great. I believe we ought to be free
You know, I believe God has given us freedom underneath authority with some rules, but basic freedom in our lives
But here's the thing. We need to use that freedom
We have the freedom to go to church like they do not have in other parts of the world use it
Be in church every week
We have the freedom to pray to God pray to God every day. We have the freedom to own and read our Bibles
Own your Bible read your Bible learn your Bible study your Bible and serve God. Let's close in order prayer
Dear earthly father. Thanks for allowing us to be here today and getting to see
Your word on this topic and help us to be aware of these things
even if it never comes to that in our country of being illegal to serve you help us just to know these things and
And help us realize that other people in this world are not as fortunate as us
Help us to be thankful for the freedom. We do have but help us to use that freedom for your glory in Jesus name
We pray. Amen
Amen
Number four one five
Heem number four hundred fifteen
Heem number four one five
victory through grace
Say Amen
First hands up. Oh, yeah
Conquering now and first has a put I am gonna last answer
First hands are ready
Oh
They are
Right in his kingdom will shine
To
Oh
Yes, oh the army's
Faithful and true
There
Is everybody
You